The views expressed in this blog are based entirely on personal tastes and opinions. They should not be construed as professional reviews in anyway. Any resemblance to actual reviews, living or deceased, is entirely coincidental.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Sage The Restaurant

C says:

Tonight was our repeat visit to Sage after our first mind-blowing experience. On hindsight, 2 weeks was probably too short a lagtime because the degustation menu was still the same. In our defence though, we had to do some last minute clearing out of our temporary quarters, which is why we made the reservation for today.

The experience tonight was a little more subdued, probably because of what we ordered, but still very enjoyable. I ordered the escargots for my appetizer, and A couldn’t resist the mushroom cappuccino. The soup was fabulous again, and the flavour of the truffle scrambled egg is just insane. My escargots had a good texture, and the tiny button mushrooms in the gratin were delicious, but the lentils threw me off a little.

I was torn between the wagyu beef cheek and the duo of lamb for my main. For fear that the beef may end up tasting like a stew, I opted for the lamb, which consisted of a roasted lamb loin, and a cassoulet of lamb shoulder with summer beans and lardons. The lamb loin was rolled with a basil mousse and cooked quite rare. This was good but not as flavourful as the veal tenderloin that blew us away the last time. The cassoulet was alright, but again the beans made it taste a bit more rustic than I would have preferred.

A ordered the roasted cod fillet, which was served on a salt cod brandade with sundried tomatoes and a basil pesto emulsion. The fish was cooked perfectly, and I think A really liked the sundried tomatoes, but given that I’m not too keen on ordering fish instead of meat, the only fish dish that I’ll keep ordering over and over is Ember’s bacon and mushroom Chilean seabass. This was a lot more delicate and didn't have that same flavour hit.

For dessert, I had a Bailey’s creme caramel with Kahlua ice cream. I enjoyed every part of this except the quenelles of berry compote, which I found a bit too tart.

A decided to try the platter of French farm cheeses; unfortunately out of the 4, I only remembered 2 – a Brillat-Savarin (a mild, creamy Brie-like cheese), and a Camembert. That’s probably because I liked those 2 the best, particularly the Brillat-Savarin, which was wonderfully creamy and oozy.

We have a few more fancy meals lined up but after this bout, we have to buckle down in December. We’ve been eating way too well lately, and with the holiday season ahead of us, it’s time we started eating a bit more prudently again.

A says:

Not as spectacular as the first time but still excellent. This place definitely makes the list for our favs for 2009.